One Final Battle
by NegaMajora
Summary: My take on a battle between two of my personal characters in Fable.


This is a fan made story based on the game Fable and is not intended for profit.

This story is based loosely on my two profiles for the PC game with the characters Shade and Siodirn. This is a one shot (one chapter) story featuring my thoughts on what a battle between the two of them would be like if they were to face each other in combat.

Siodirn is a good guy, Shade is a bad guy, now lets begin, shall we?

The Clash

Siodirn headed up the stairs to Archon's shrine, glaring at the current occupant from beneath his bright chain mail helmet which seemed odd when considering the fact he was wearing bright plate mail for the rest of his clothing. He was a giant of a man, standing nearly half again the height of even some of the greater heroes and having muscles strong enough to rip a man in half, but the golden halo above his head indicated he would never do such a blood thirsty thing. His weaponry was almost bare save for the legendary weapon worn across his back, Avo's Tear, a holy sword who's power was said to rival even the sword of Aeons, if not surpass it entirely! He was known around the world as the Avatar and did his best to aid the people in need with his overwhelming strength and his short, yet powerful array of divine spells.

And within the shrine, was his target, a fellow guild member known only as Shade. Shade was practically the polar opposite to Siodirn, a truly evil being who's deeds registered him as nearly demonic and who few civilians would call him 'human' with a serious face or tone. He wore a suit of fire assassin armor which had been pilfered from around Snowspire Village as he crept into their homes to discover that random civilians had bits and pieces to the suit, yet to cover the top of his head, he wore a bandit bandana giving thus completely covering his body save for his glowing red eyes and making him look like some demonic red ninja as his forehead produced two long curving horns which had punctured through his bandana. Shade wielded the sword of Aeons, having killed his own sister to achieve power that even Jack of Blades had been so desperate to achieve despite having been immortal! In addition to this cursed sword, he carried a masterwork long bow which he had augmented with a total of three health augmentations! As long as he wielded the bow, he could regenerate himself to the point that only somebody as strong as Siodirn had any hope of taking him down.

Shade's specialty was long ranged combat, relying on skill rather than magic or strength. As a result, he was rather tall and lean, more athletic with a bit of muscle layered on, but this was by no means a handicap for his current opponent. No, Shade had a few tricks for dealing with enemies who outclassed him in physical might, a couple of which were magical in nature!

There was one thing that Siodirn had to be thankful towards Shade in that despite all of his evil and malice, Shade was not greedy enough to have been blinded by power. After a terrifying battle between him and Jack's new incarnation of a dragon, Shade had managed to turn down the chance for immortality by destroying Jack of Blades' mask, thus banishing his evil from the world forever while sacrificing eternal life as a result. But that hardly compared to the thousands of other atrocities the demonic hero had performed since then, he even took up the title of Assassin and had completed the entire arena in one fell swoop while having killed Whisper, a friend of both Siodirn and Shade alike! Despite all of his strength, even the holy warrior was not able to defeat the entire arena in a single go, this battle would be truly legendary for him, possibly his greatest challenge of all.

"Shade!" he shouted as he drew his massive sword from his back and looked upon the shrine which held the souls of Thunder, Briar Rose, and the Guild Master forever screaming in their perpetual prison. The hero turned around to face him, smiling under his mask as he held his bow at the ready, "Your may have defeated Jack of Blades, but your evil must come to an end! Without the Guild Master around, the guild is doomed to fall apart anyways which means the town guards will be out to arrest you. Not that they'll have a chance in Skorm!" he added.

A sickening chuckle was heard from Shade as he strode from into the shrine's center to meet his adversary. "Poor, deluded Siodirn. How little you understand the methods behind my actions." said Shade as he began to explain, "Thunder vowed at the arena that he would kill him for taking the life of Whisper for the fame and fortune that every hero, including you craves! I killed him and took his soul to power the shrine so that I don't have to worry about his future attempts to slay me and maybe eternal imprisonment will teach him not to judge a so-called Farm Boy without properly testing him in battle!" said Shade with a mixture of amusement and anger.

Siodirn almost growled as he leapt forward and swung his sword, only to have Shade warp behind him in an instant with his Assassin Rush spell and kick him forward, sending the heavily armored warrior stumbling forward before catching himself. Shade casually continued his explanation as if nothing had happened.

"Briar Rose was acting too bossy for her own good. To think she dared ask me to take the soul of my own mother to power the shrine. My sister's death was needed to power the sword, yes. But she was already slain without having to be trapped in this damned wasteland. Briar will serve much better here while mother Rests." he finished before launching off an arrow which Siodirn swatted away with his sword and swung once more, only to have Shade roll backwards out of the way.

"And as for the guild master… well he that was actually an act of retribution. Did you know that the guild used to only accept good heroes before that old man decided to allow both good and evil to train? The fact I was even accepted into the hero guild is entirely his fault! Besides, without a leader to run it, the guild will fall into chaos and heroes will be fighting over all of Albion, the need for heroes will skyrocket and heroes will prosper on gold and fame for decades to come! I've done the world a favor by killing that old fool!" shouted Shade as he fired another arrow, lancing through Siodirn's shoulder as he let out a battle roar and charged forward.

"Monster! Is fame and money the only thing that matters to you!? Do you care nothing about these people who you butchered? You walk right into stores and butcher the owners only to buy the shop for yourself and then rent it out! What kind of a sick madman are you!?" shouted Siodirn as he ripped the arrow from his shoulder and cast a heal spell, repairing the damage almost instantly as he slashed so quickly, that Shade barely managed to get his bow up in time to block the holy sword. Had the bow been anything less than Masterwork quality, it would have been shattered at that moment, Shade used assassin dodge to flee behind Siodirn and sheath his bow while drawing his Sword of Aeons with a grin beneath his mask.

"What's wrong with a little property value? Got to stock up on retirement, right? Nobody can escape old age after all!" said Shade, laughing at his own joke as he raised a hand into the air and summoned four ghost swords to his side causing Siodirn to slightly cringe at the sight. It was how Shade managed to distract his enemies while picking them off with his bow, fighting off four spectral blades along with a long range volley of arrows was extremely difficult in a solo situation, no wonder Shade had won the arena in one go when Whisper had been helping by his side! But luckily, the swords had a weak point in that they were rather easy to destroy and were more along the lines of either attacking all in one group, or serving as minor distractions against multiple targets. Siodirn began to channel his Will for a massive attack.

Shade saw the massive collection of magic beginning to form and cursed as he began to run while his swords launched forward just in time to be berated by an onslaught of holy energy as Siodirn unleashed a Divine Wrath spell from above, obliterating the swords instantly and even catching shade in the fire as he screamed from while the spell blasted through his very soul. The spell lasted for several seconds before ending with Shade behind sent toppling to the ground in agony as he tried to climb to his feet. He heard thundering foot steps and looked up to see Siodirn charging at him with Avo's Tear raised and ready to cleave him in two!

Shade quickly warped away with yet another Assassin Rush and immediately cast a Multi Arrow spell while drawing out his bow and sheathing his cursed sword. He would pick off the hero from afar while allowing his bow to heal his injuries. That attack had been devastating to say the least.

Siodirn looked around, trying to find where the evil assassin had fled to, it seemed that this time the spell had been used to escape, rather than counter attack. He suddenly heard a twang and looked behind him as an arrow lanced through his chest plate followed by four extra arrows slamming into his shoulders and knees (one in each) and bringing him to the ground in a gasp of pain. He had not anticipated that Shade would rely on Multi Arrow so soon into the fight, but apparently he had succeeded in pissing the hero off immensely!

He still had to figure out where the shots had come from when he heard the metallic swing of four Ghost Swords rushing towards him, he cursed and climbed to his feet, preparing to launch another Divine Wrath spell, but seeing more arrows fly towards him as he did so! It seemed Shade was very clever indeed, he wasn't about to let the holy warrior pull off another of those spells. Siodirn quickly canceled the spell and swung away at the arrows while the swords slashed into him, cutting into his bright plate mail and causing several scars. It seemed Siodirn had underestimated the enemy, he was everything the rumors had said. Powerful, skilled, and intelligent. Not like the other villains he had fought who let their pride blind their fighting styles!

Siodirn had little choice in the matter now as he summoned forth his will and unleashed a blood thirsty roar which sent a shockwave outwards, knocking the blades away as his muscles practically tripled in size with his Berserk spell!

Shade watched from afar and cursed once more at the now mammoth-like warrior who towered nearly 15 feet tall thanks to the spell. His wounds had been cured anyways as he put away his bow and charged with the Sword of Aeons ready while he watched Siodirn smash the ghost swords with his feet while turning towards his charging enemy and swinging his holy blade. Shade rolled away from the attack and delivered a swing of his own sword towards Siodirn's waist which did very little to pierce both his armor as well as his overly padded muscles.

From nearby, even the monsters of the northern wastes watched on in awe. For the first time in history, the Balverines themselves were paralyzed in fear while frost trolls stood in silence as they watched the battle between these two heroes, nay, these two gods play out before them! It was like watching Avo and Skorm personified into mortal flesh as their blades clashed again and again, the two most powerful weapons wielded by the two most powerful humans. The shrine itself quaked under their might. Every time Shade would launch an attack, Siodirn would either block it, or absorb it due to his massive strength cushioning the blow.

Every time Siodirn launched a move, Shade would either counter it, or dodge it entirely. Shade did not possess the healing spell that Siodirn had, so he had to be more careful about being struck, plus the fact that Siodirn could possibly cleave him in half if given the chance.

Finally, it was down to this last attack. Both heroes were drained physically and magically. Shade had trouble rolling around anymore as he was out of breath and his massive Sword of Aeons was getting heavy while Siodirn was finding himself woozy from blood loss as he had taken a great deal of damage due to being slow and cumbersome. This last attack would mark the fall of one of these two heroes, the monsters looked on in anticipation, wondering who they would feast on tonight, and who would go on to kill them in the future.

The two heroes said no more words, they made eye contact and knew without any body language that this was indeed going to be the last strike, all or nothing. The two charged at each other and simultaneously swung their legendary swords as a combination of metallic clang as well as a blood soaked splash was heard throughout the surrounding area!

The two heroes stood on opposite sides of each other, their backs turned as they awaited to see who was going to fall dead on the shrine. The suspense was agonizing until finally the two heroes, without saying even a single word, began to walk away from the shrine, heading away from each other. As they reached the outside of the shrine, they suddenly fell to the floor, both killed by each other's blades as they had been equal in skill! Shade's horns were cracked and one was even broken in half while Siodirn's blade mail had a huge gash right up the middle which almost split it in half.

The two heroes despised each other with every fiber of their being, but as arena champions, as arch rivals…. As heroes and guild mates…. They silently honored each other's skill as they faded into oblivion. Their bodies evaporating into dust like all slain heroes while their swords vanished along with them, never again to be wielded by mortal hands…


End file.
